Anis Amri: Berlin Terrorist Who Was Not Supposed To Be There

The story of Anis Amri, the Berlin terrorist, distinctly shows how faulty is the control system for people trying to get the asylum in countries of the European Union.

And more than that, how even more faulty is the system of deportation of individuals that should be expelled from the territory of the EU.

How did the short life of Anis Amri, the Berlin terrorist look like?

Anis Amri resigned from the Tunisian school at the age of fourteen, so he had neither an education, nor a profession. With his friends he was drinking and taking drugs which led to several police arrests. He was stealing “ to get money for his travel to Europe, because he wanted to have all the things boys have” as his mother explained. He also stole the truck, for which Tunisian court sentenced him to five years of imprisonment – but at that time he was already on his way to Europe.

In 2011, being nineteen at the time, he escaped to Europe, probably from the conviction, he got to Italy on the boat with three of his friends. He was taken for an underaged – he didn’t have any documents and he lied about his age. The refugee centre was set on fire and Anis Amri with his friends were sentenced to four years of imprisonment for arson and unlawful threats. The defendants explained that it was a protest against the conditions in the refugee centre and prolonged asylum procedure, but when the arson took place, the Anis Amri’s refuge application form had already been declined.

He wasn’t expelled though, he went to prison.

He spent four years in six different prisons, getting twelve official warnings for his aggressive behaviour. Supposedly, the prison was the place where his transition from a hooligan and a thief to a jihadist happened. He went out in May 2015.

After release he wasn’t sent to Tunisia but he was commanded to leave the country.

He did it, first coming to Switzerland, and shortly after that, in July 2015, arrived in Germany, where, almost a year later, he applied for an asylum.

Everyone was doing their job, as much as the provisions allowed them to, yet now they are the ones responsible for twelve victims killed in the suicide attack.

In Germany he supposedly worked on a construction site and as a cook. In March 2016, the police started an investigation against Anis Amri – he was suspected of a robbery to get the money for the automatic weapon. During the ongoing investigation several other facts like drug dealer activities and a fight with another “supplier” came to the light. There are also documents proving his relations with radical Muslim jihadists, one of them called Abu Walaa being arrested in November 2016, for human trafficking in Syria.

In June 2016 Anis Amri’s application for asylum was declined and thereis an official decision to hand him over to Tunisian authorities. He wasnot deported though due to the lack of documents confirming his citizenship. Tunisian government claims that there is no official note or whatsoever that proves that Anis Amri is Tunisian citizen. Considering that Anis Amri was arrested in Tunisia and convicted for several different criminal offences – so he musthave been entered intothe police database – such explanations sound unconvincing.

Month later Anis Amri is held on the German-Swiss border, where he’s trying to get on the bus to Zurich and by the decision of the court, he is arrested. After 24 hours he’s released – Kleve’s authorities responsible for immigrants inform they don’t have capability to repatriate Anis Amri.

In September 2016, three months before the attack in Berlin, without any reasonable explanation, the police states that Anis Amri is no longer a threat to the society and stops tracking him, despite evidence of his regular relations with radicals, drug trafficking and using six different names. And obviously, adding to the list, his illegal stay on the German territory.

Two days after twelve people died in Berlin, Tunisian documents for the terrorist were all fresh and ready in the embassy. Amri could be finally expelled, though he wasalready a dead man, after his escape to Italy.

If anyone makes a perfect candidate for an assassin, it was Anis Amri. If there was any assassination that could have been stopped, it was the assassination in Berlin.

Anis Amri should have been expelled at least three times:

once, when he lied about his age and when nobody checked he was a criminal waiting for a trial in a Tunisian court.

Second time when he went out of prison in Italy and his application for asylum was declined;

third time when his asylum application in Germany was rejected.

Anis Amri should have been also arrested in Germany and convicted for drug deals and fights – maybe he would be in prison now instead of killing people.

And finally – Anis Amri should not have been radicalised in the Italian prison, because radicals should be kept in absolute isolation from other Islamic prisoners.

Everyone was doing their job, as much as the provisions allowed them to, now they bare the ones responsible for twelve victims killed in the attack. These are not last victims, just like Anis Amri is not the last criminal radicalised in prison. He’s not the last one who did not get expelled because of some absurd reasons.